If you want to learn about bringing back extinct animals, reading John Smith's Back from the Dead is a good start. But I have to say I can't agree with everything he says.
From his book, I can see Smith is an advocate of bringing extinct animals back. He says we have lost many animals because we made their living spaces too dirty. He also thinks we must do everything we can to bring them back. However, I don't know how much time and money we would need to make the world a better place for them, and honestly no one knows if they could actually come back.
Smith also says that bringing back extinct animals may be good for us. He talks about an extinct frog that grew tadpoles in its stomach. Some women's babies die before they are born, and Smith believes bringing back the frog may be an answer to the problem. According to him, by studying how the tadpoles grow inside the frog's stomach, we might be able to find new ways to help these women successfully keep their babies. But I don't think things are as easy as Smith thinks. We have spent ten years and millions of dollars on this kind of frog, but all we have got are only a few dead frog eggs. If we can't see a real frog, how can we be sure women will get the help they need?
Dr. Solomon Wang from the Animal Saving Office says the study of bringing back extinct animals is "throwing good money after bad." And he's right. A lot of hard work has been put into this expensive dream, but we haven't seen anything come out of it. So should we still keep going down this road?
extinct 絕種的
tadpole 蝌蚪
likely 可能
What is special about the extinct frog in Smith's book?
A
It can live in a dirty living space
B
It might help fix a health problem
C
It eats its babies when it cannot find food
D
It is the first extinct animal that people studied
正解:(B) It might help fix a health problem
Smith 書中那種絕種青蛙特別在哪裡?
(A) 牠能在骯髒的環境裡生存。
(B) 牠或許能幫忙解決一個健康問題。
(C) 牠找不到食物時會吃掉自己的寶寶。
(D) 人類史上第一種被研究的絕種動物就是牠。
詳解
這題鎖定第三段。Smith 說有些婦女的寶寶未出生就死亡,而研究蝌蚪如何在這種青蛙的胃裡長大,或許能找到新方法幫助這些婦女留住孩子。「寶寶未出生就死亡」是一個健康問題,「或許能找到新方法」對應選項裡的 might help fix。選項 (B) 沒有整句照抄原文,而是把兩句話濃縮改寫,這正是會考細節題的典型長相:答案會改寫,錯的選項反而常常直接借用原文的字眼來釣你。
誘答分析
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(A):dirty living space 這幾個字確實在文章裡出現過,但那是第二段講「動物為什麼絕種」的原因,跟青蛙的特殊之處無關。看到眼熟字眼就下手的人會選錯,這是標準的張冠李戴。
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(C):文章說蝌蚪 grew in its stomach(在胃裡長大),畫面感太強,粗心的人會自行補上成「把寶寶吃下肚」。其實,那是牠的育兒方式,寶寶在胃裡是活著長大的,方向完全相反。
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(D):文中只說人們花了十年研究這種青蛙,從沒說牠是「第一種」被研究的絕種動物。加上 first 這種絕對字眼,是誘答的常用手法,文章沒說到那麼滿。